How to Cite a Book in APA, MLA and Chicago, Including Editions, Ebooks and Chapters
A book citation needs four facts from the title page and the copyright page. Here is where each one goes in APA, MLA and Chicago, taken from the style guides themselves.
in short
To cite a book, take the author, title, publisher and year from the title and copyright pages. APA: Author, A. A. (Year). Title in sentence case. Publisher. MLA: Last, First. Title. Publisher, Year. Chicago bibliography: Last, First. Title. Publisher, Year. Add an edition after the title, and cite the page in the text.
Learning how to cite a book is mostly learning where to look. The author, title, publisher and year are on the title page and the copyright page, and APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago 18 arrange those same facts in different orders. Below: each style's template as its own guide shows it, one invented book cited three ways, and the variations that trip people up: editions, ebooks, edited books and a chapter in an edited book.
How to cite a book: what to collect first
The copyright page answers most citation questions before you open a style guide.
Every style needs the same facts. Take them from the book, not a store listing.
| Fact | Where to find it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Author or editor | Title page | Copy names as printed; note if the people are editors |
| Full title and subtitle | Title page | The subtitle follows a colon in all three styles |
| Edition | Title page or copyright page | Only if it is not the first: 2nd ed., revised ed. |
| Publisher | Title page or copyright page | No city needed in APA 7, MLA 9 or Chicago 18 |
| Year | Copyright page | APA says to use the copyright date even if the release date differs |
| DOI or URL | Copyright page or the ebook's landing page | For ebooks and online books |
| Page of your quotation | The page itself | For the in-text citation or note |
Cite a book in APA 7
The APA Style page on book and ebook references asks for the author, year of publication, title and publisher. Edition information goes in parentheses after the title, without italics. A DOI, if the book has one, goes after the publisher. Do not include the publisher location. APA uses the same format for print books and ebooks and says the format, platform or device, such as Kindle, is not included.
APA's own examples: Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books. With an edition: Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000. In the text: (Sapolsky, 2017) or Sapolsky (2017).
Cite a book in MLA 9
The MLA Style Center's citations by format shows the basic entry as author, title, publisher and date. Its example of a book by one author: Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall. Picador, 2010. An edited book puts editor after the name: Sánchez Prado, Ignacio M., editor. Mexican Literature in Theory. Bloomsbury, 2018.
In the text, MLA cites the name that begins the entry and the page, with no comma: (Mantel 45). The in-text citation guide compares this with APA and Chicago, including two and three authors.
Cite a book in Chicago 18
Chicago's notes and bibliography quick guide gives a full note, a shortened note and a bibliography entry for each source. Its book example: note, 1. Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown (Pantheon Books, 2020), 45; shortened note, Yu, Interior Chinatown, 48; bibliography, Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books, 2020. The guide notes that a place of publication is no longer required (CMOS 14.30).
The edition goes after the title, as in the guide's example: Brooke Borel, The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking, 2nd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2023), 92, EBSCOhost. The author-date version of a book entry moves the year up: Yu, Charles. 2020. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books, cited as (Yu 2020, 45). The full Chicago style citation guide covers shortened notes and ibid.
One book cited three ways
An invented example book, so the formats can be compared on identical facts. Author: Ana Ortiz. Title: Reading in the Margins: A Short History of Annotation. Second edition. Publisher: Larkspur Press. Year: 2024. You quote page 58.
| Style | Reference, works-cited or bibliography entry | Quoting page 58 |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | Ortiz, A. (2024). Reading in the margins: A short history of annotation (2nd ed.). Larkspur Press. | (Ortiz, 2024, p. 58) |
| MLA 9 | Ortiz, Ana. Reading in the Margins: A Short History of Annotation. 2nd ed., Larkspur Press, 2024. | (Ortiz 58) |
| Chicago 18 note | 1. Ana Ortiz, Reading in the Margins: A Short History of Annotation, 2nd ed. (Larkspur Press, 2024), 58. | Later: Ortiz, Reading in the Margins, 58. |
| Chicago 18 bibliography | Ortiz, Ana. Reading in the Margins: A Short History of Annotation. 2nd ed. Larkspur Press, 2024. | Notes carry the page |
Editions and ebooks
Ebooks are where the styles split. APA says to use the same format as print and to leave out the format, platform or device; an ebook with a DOI or stable URL gets it after the publisher. Chicago names how you read it. Its examples end a note with the format, as in Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (Random House, 2008), chap. 6, Kindle, and the bibliography entry ends with Kindle too. Chicago adds that if an ebook has no fixed page numbers, you can cite a section title or a chapter or other number instead, or simply omit it.
Cite a chapter in an edited book
When each chapter has its own author and the book has editors, cite the chapter, with the book as its container. APA's page on chapters in edited books gives the chapter author and year, the chapter title in sentence case, then In, the editors with (Eds.), the italic book title, the page range in parentheses, and the publisher. Edition information shares the parentheses with the page range, separated by a comma, as in (4th ed., pp. followed by the range). APA also says not to create references for chapters of authored books; cite the whole book and name the chapter in the text, as in (McEwen & Wills, 2014, Chapter 16, p. 363).
MLA treats the book as a container that follows the chapter title, with edited by before the editors and the pages at the end. Its example of a work in a collection reads: Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Masque of the Red Death.” The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by James A. Harrison, vol. 4, Thomas Y. Crowell, 1902, pp. 250-58, then the database. Chicago's chapter example: Doyle, Kathleen. “The Queen Mary Psalter.” In The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World's Greatest Invention, edited by P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin. University of Chicago Press, 2023. The 18th edition no longer requires the chapter's page range in the bibliography.
| Style | Chapter entry (example) | In-text or note |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | Lee, S. (2022). Notes in library copies. In R. Okafor & J. Price (Eds.), The annotated page (pp. 45-67). Larkspur Press. | (Lee, 2022, p. 51) |
| MLA 9 | Lee, Sam. “Notes in Library Copies.” The Annotated Page, edited by Ruth Okafor and Jonah Price, Larkspur Press, 2022, pp. 45-67. | (Lee 51) |
| Chicago 18 | Lee, Sam. “Notes in Library Copies.” In The Annotated Page, edited by Ruth Okafor and Jonah Price. Larkspur Press, 2022. | Lee, “Library Copies,” 51. |
A worked example: one quoted sentence, three styles
Suppose your draft quotes the invented example book at page 58: “Readers wrote back to their books long before anyone printed a margin wide enough to hold the reply.”
- APA 7. Ortiz (2024) argues that “readers wrote back to their books long before anyone printed a margin wide enough to hold the reply” (p. 58).
- MLA 9. Ortiz argues that “readers wrote back to their books long before anyone printed a margin wide enough to hold the reply” (58).
- Chicago 18. Ortiz argues that “readers wrote back to their books long before anyone printed a margin wide enough to hold the reply.”1 Note 1 is the full note shown earlier.
If you highlighted the passage when you read it, note the page in the margin at the same time. That turns highlights into entries for an annotated bibliography built from your highlights.
Pitfalls when citing a book
- Using the reprint year as the original. APA says to use the copyright date on the copyright page.
- Adding Kindle in APA. APA leaves out the device; Chicago names the format.
- Citing the book when you used one chapter by another author. In an edited collection, cite the chapter with the book as its container.
Tips that save time
- Record the page with every highlight. Ebooks without fixed pages need the chapter instead.
- Check the style your class names. Your instructor's rule wins over any general page.
- Keep the rest of your record together. The guides to keeping a citable record of your reading cover videos, websites and quotations.
How to cite a book comes down to copying five facts once from the title and copyright pages, then arranging them as your style guide shows. Add the page to every quotation, and for a chapter in an edited book, cite the chapter with the book as its container.
Common questions
How do I cite a book in APA 7?
Give the author's last name and initials, the year in parentheses, the title in italics and sentence case, any edition in parentheses, and the publisher: Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books. That is APA's own example. In the text, write (Sapolsky, 2017) and add the page when you quote.
How do I cite a book in MLA 9?
List the author's last name and first name, the title in italics, the publisher and the year: Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall. Picador, 2010. That is the MLA Style Center's example. Add an edition after the title if it is not the first. In the text, cite the name and the page: (Mantel 45).
How do I cite a book in Chicago style?
In Chicago 18 notes, write the author's name, the italic title, then the publisher and year in parentheses and the page: Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown (Pantheon Books, 2020), 45. Later notes shorten to Yu, Interior Chinatown, 48. The bibliography entry inverts the name and uses periods: Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books, 2020.
How do I cite an ebook?
APA uses the same format as a print book and leaves out the format, platform or device, adding a DOI or stable URL if the ebook has one. Chicago names the format or database, as in its example ending Kindle, and allows a chapter or section in place of page numbers that are not fixed. For MLA, use the same core elements as a print book: author, title, publisher and year.
How do I cite a chapter in an edited book?
Cite the chapter's author and title first, then the book as its container with its editors. APA writes In, the editors with (Eds.), the italic book title and the page range in parentheses, then the publisher. MLA puts the book title after the chapter title with edited by and the pages at the end. Chicago 18 no longer requires the chapter's page range in the bibliography.
Sources
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Checked against its sources and signed before it went out.
Nora Feld
Editor · reviewed 2 Nov 2026
